The invention pertains to the general field of pipettes and more particularly to a sealable and manipulable pre-filled, disposable pipette that is filled with a medicinal product, used once and discarded.
A typical pipette consists of a slender pipe or tube that is used to transfer or measure small quantities of a liquid or a gas from one location to another. The most common type of pipette consists of a small plastic tube that widens into a bulb at the middle or the end. Liquid may be sucked into the bulb and retained therein by closing the top end of the pipette with a stopper, thumb or the like. The currently used prior art pipettes inherently have the following problems:
1. Filling the pipettes with liquid medication is difficult due to the pipette""s narrow opening and the tendency of the bulb to deform if improperly handled,
2. After the pipettes are filled any subsequent processing of the pipette is difficult, primarily because the bulb can be inadvertently deformed causing the liquid therein to flow out. In general, the current pipette designs do not include any grasping sections that allow pipettes to be conveniently handled. The bulb cannot be used as a grasping point because of its tendency to deform, and the remaining parts of the pipette are also not suitable for gasping because the mass center of a pre-filled pipette is centered on the bulb.
3. Many medications are required to be sealed. Due to the handling problem described above, the current pre-filled pipettes can not be adequately sealed. The problem described in item 1, has been addressed by the applicant in a previously filed patent application. The instant application provides a solution to the problems described in items 2 and 3.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention, however the following U.S. patents are considered related:
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,347 patent discloses a volumetric pipette for dispensing liquids. The pipette is formed as a unitary structure made of components which are bonded together to create a precision fluid dispensing device. The pipette includes a stem portion which is separately formed and which is bonded to a bulb portion to complete the pipette.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,602 patent discloses a liquid dispensing apparatus, which includes a self-contained source of fluid normally, isolated within a reservoir bulb. The bulb is deformed to initially rupture a membrane allowing the fluid to be forced through a shaft bore to saturate a tip-mounted swab. Alternatively, the membrane may be positioned intermediate two aligned sections of the shaft and is ruptured upon partial axial collapse of the sections.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,104 patent discloses a disposable liquid dispensing pipette which delivers an accurate and uniform drop of liquid of a given size and which incorporates an integral paddle stirrer. The device includes a dispensing tube connected to a flexible and resilient bulb and paddle stirrer. The open end of the tube can be made in various sizes to accommodate different drop sizes.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,825 patent discloses a pipette having a liquid receiving hollow generally encompassed by deformable sidewalls. The pipette further has a tapered liquid outlet extending from one end of the hollow and a liquid inlet on the other end of the hollow within which is located a semi-permeable filter.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention is related reference may be made to the remaining cited patents.
The prior art pipettes include a hollow bulb having an upper end, a lower end and is dimensioned to contain a medicinal product. From the lower end of the bulb extends outward a medication transfer tube having a lower end from where the medicinal product is initially filled and subsequently released when the bulb is squeezed. The filled prior art pipettes are not easily handled and manipulated for further processing or use, such as for placing them on filling racks, adding applicators, labeling, and packaging because the bulb, which is typically used to grasp the pipette, is easily deformed which can cause the medicinal product to flow out the medication transfer tube. The grasping of the pipette by means of the medication transfer tube also presents a problem because the mass center of the pre-filled pipette is located on the bulb which causes an unbalance when the pipette is lifted by the tube.
The sealable and manipulable pre-filled disposable pipette provides an improvement over prior art designs by adding additional structure to the pipette in the form of a primary grasping tab, a secondary grasping tab, and a support tab. The primary grasping tab extends outward from the upper end of the hollow tube; the secondary grasping tab has a first section, a second section, an upper edge and a lower edge, each section is attached to an opposite side of the medication transfer tube with the upper edge of the tab attached to the lower end of the bulb; the support tab has a first section, a second section, an upper edge and a lower edge, the two sections are also attached to opposite sides of the medication transfer tube with the upper edge of the support tab spaced apart from the lower edge of the secondary grasping tab, and with the lower edge of the support tab adjacent the lower edge of the medication transfer tube.
By utilizing the primary grasping tab, either alone or in combination with the secondary grasping tab, a medical practitioner is able to conveniently carry or otherwise handle the pre-filled pipette without inadvertently releasing any of the medicinal product. The support tab is specifically designed to allow the pipette to be hung and held within a conveyer rack apparatus from where the pipette can be automatically filled. After filling, the pipette, while still hanging from the conveyer rack apparatus, can be sealed by means of a cap or a heat-applied foil. After the filling and capping operations the pipette is removed from the apparatus by utilizing the primary tab and/or the secondary tab.
In view of the above disclosure, it is the primary object of the invention to produce a pipette that can be conveniently and easily handled without inadvertently releasing any of the medicinal product.
It is also an object of the invention to produce a pipette that:
Can be easily racked and automatically filled.
Can be designed in various sizes.
Is hygienic.
Is cost effective from both a manufacturing and consumer points of view.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.